News In Brief

The Superettan game between Syrianska and Dalkurd was abandoned due to crowd trouble. A fan in the home terrace threw a banger (a flare that explodes) at Dalkurd’s attacker Richard Yarsuvat, who was taken to hospital for treatment and the game was abandoned.

Another Dalkurd player was treated for damage to his hearing. The match referee and his assistants didn’t feel safe and decided it was best that the game be stopped after consultation with the managers of both teams, who were in agreement.

The decision was made after a twenty minute long meeting where the match officials, the teams and the police all attended. The police emptied Syrianska’s terrace upon which even stewards were attacked.

Home fans attacking their own stewards. Where have we seen that before? *cough* West Ham *cough*

Syrianska’s coach Sharbel Touma said:

“This does not belong in the sport. I do not understand how such fans think. I’m lost for words.”

Touma also tried to calm the home fans down without much success. Dalkurd were leading 3-1 when the match was abandoned with a little more than twenty minutes left to play.

Dalkurd’s coach Andreas Brännström said:

“We’re at our wits end. It’s not just a shame for us or Syrianska. It’s sad for everyone.”

The Swedish Football Association Disciplinary Board will make a decision on penalties to be incurred by the home side.

Syrianska FC is a Swedish football team based in Södertälje, Stockholm County. The club was founded in 1977 by Syriac Orthodox Aramean immigrants. The Syriac (Aramean) people do not have an official national team, and Syrianska is often viewed as its substitute.

Dalkurd FF is a Swedish football team based in Borlänge, Darlarna County. The club was founded in 2004 by Kurdish immigrants.

A Legend Returns To HIF

Alvaro Santos

Alvaro Santos joined HIF in 2000 and made a total of 117 league matches during two stints at the club, which he scored 41 goals. It was the largely down to the Brazilians performances in the HIF team that won SM Gold in 2011 and the Champions League games in 2000 that have given him legend status among the HIF fans.

After putting his football boots on the shelf and starting a soccer school in his home country Brazil, 27-year-old Santos will now return to Helsingborg in a new role.

“We and he feels that it would be positive if he “came home” said HIF’s club director Mats-Ola Schulze to Fotbollskanalen.se.

“He’s a fantastic person who means a lot to the club. He’s a very big personality and a HIF icon. Now he will move back to Sweden with his family and pressure him. The most important thing is that he arrives first. He will play a role in the youth set up and will also help us on the social side with our project called HIF In The Community.” continued Schulze.

In Helsingborg’s set up there are several old players, not least coach Per-Ola Ljung, assistant coach Christoffer Andersson and goalkeeper trainer Daniel Andersson. The club now believes that Alvaro Santos can help develop the youth section.

“We aim to build both tomorrow’s players and leaders in our youth structure, and we are strongly assured that there is a high calibre coach in Alvaro so this feels great.” Concluded Schulze.

HIF Celebrates It’s 110th Birthday

Helsingborgs IF badge

It isn’t often that I look at another football team with envious eyes. I think our support is right up there with the best in England but sometimes I look at other teams and think we need to take a leaf out of their book.

One such occasion was two nights ago when just after midnight, as the date changed to the 4th of June, HIF supporters congregated on the terrace and steps at Kärnan to celebrate the birthday of their club.

A little history

Kärnan (core in English) is the city’s keep which was part of a larger medieval fortress built by the Danes to help control the entrance from the North Sea into the Öresund.

The sister fortress to Kärnan is called Kronborg Castle which sits on the other side of the sound in a town called Helsingör in Swedish or Elsinore in English. You may be familiar with both Kronborg Castle and Elsinore because they are where Hamlet by William Shakespeare is set.

Spectacular Scene

Just after midnight the masses of HIF fans that had gathered to begin the celebration.

Kärnan’s terrace by day

The cities busses with HIF flags on match day

The whole event was widely reported in the local media and on television in a very positive light (no pun intended) and all the fans acted responsibly.

In fact the cooperation between the supporters club, the council and local businesses in the city is very impressive. I genuinely wish Croydon Council afforded us as much trust and generosity as Helsingborg council does to HIF supporters and that the local shops gave us as much visible support in their windows. It’s quite humbling.

Could you imagine Croydon Council allowing the Holmesdale Fanatics to organise anything like the HIF supporters did in any of the local parks in Croydon let alone a part of a historical monument dating back to 1310?

An HIF community initiative from 2016 incorporating the areas of Helsingborg. Look familiar at all?

Could you imagine practically every shop in Croydon town centre displaying something, however small, to show support of our team? Be it a scarf, a hat on a mannequin, a small sticker in the corner of the window.

On top of that the company that runs the buses in Region Skåne (the south of Sweden) makes sure that on home match days every bus that is in the city are flying two flags with the teams badge on it.

Of course, Region Skåne do this in other cities too, such as Malmö, Trelleborg and so on but wouldn’t it be nice for every bus that came out of Croydon Bus Garage on match days did the same for us even if it were only the buses that pass by the ground?

Respect to them!

Round 11: Falkenbergs FF v Helsingborgs IF

Ten straight without loss and a 110th anniversary, all HIF needed to do was produce a win to complete the celebration.

Of course it was great to celebrate the club’s 110th birthday with a match against Falkenberg. Given the town’s proximity to Helsingborg, it maybe wasn’t strange that so many supporters chose to go to Falcon Alcohol Free Arena to see the game.

HIF were forced to play the game without Oke Akpoveta and Alexander Anchinioti-Jönsson, who were both suspended after receiving three yellow cards. On the other hand, Viktor Ljung, Alex Timossi Andersson and Edwin Gyimah returned after injury and suspecsion

The visitors started brightly but initially the home team had the most dangerous chance with a shot hitting the post from a corner. Wede should then have made it 1-0 to HIF when he pounced on a ball in the penalty area, but his shot hit the crossbar.

The home team took control of the game more and more but didn’t create any real danger except a shot that was just wide of Pyzdrowsky’s left post. HIF picked up towards the end of the half but with the home side having seven corners to HIF’s none, it tells the story of the first half.

Falkenberg started the second half brightly but struggled in the final third. The persistent rain made it difficult for both teams and passing wasn’t the best. However, for long periods HIF’s attacking game completely disappeared only for them to focus on defence, which is something that seems to be becoming a bit of a habit.

With a little under half an left to play, HIF countered which with the help of a mistake in the home sides defence, Jesper Lange scored his eleventh goal of the season to give the away side the lead.

The score was absolutely not fair on the home side but we all know that’s football and this time HIF acted positively after taking the lead. Instead of defending as if their lives depended on it they continued to move forward and created some really good chances, though they were unable to convert them.

Then the inevitable happened! With just seven minutes left, Erik Pärsson sent a free kick high into the penalty box. Pyzdrowski came out to collect the ball but only managed to parry it straight into the net and the match was wide open again.

If you are a regular reader you will know that conceding within the first ten or last ten minutes of games is a common problem for HIF and after managing to not concede in the last ten minutes for a couple of games it seems the problem has returned. The last few minutes were not particularly entertaining and 1-1 may be considered a fair result in the end.

The game was HIF’s fifth draw of the season but at the same time it was the clubs’s eleventh without loss.